Vintage Wooden Thread Spool Danglies by Lenall Siebenaler

I bought an old box full of vintage wooden thread spools at an estate sale over a year ago. At the time, I didn't have a plan for them, but I felt a need to possess them and percolate on how to use them in the future.

"Percolate" has become my operative word for brainstorming in the mind creatively. Percolating always takes place before sitting down to create. It is done in my travels, in the car, in bed, in my leisure time. I just think and usually I don't even realize I am doing it and an idea pops into my head.

I love to brainstorm--heck, I even do it for my friends--much to my often embarassment!! The ideas just blurt out without a thought. But that is what brainstorming is all about, isn't it? Thanks to all of you (and you know who you are) who have accepted me and my thoughts for you and taken my blurts and either made them your own or diplomatically said "no thanks you didn't want to do that..." That's what brainstorming is about too!!

The percolating phase of this project took longer than I hoped, but it finially came to fruition two weeks ago. We all know that all it takes is actually sitting down and just playing. I played for several hours and here are 4 of my new danglies. I hope you like them. They are rather quirky and eccentric. They are made using painted paper, recycled fabrics, beads, recycled jewelry pieces, wire, paint and glue.

Thanks for looking,

Lenall

Hearts in the Heat Wave

I've been taking advantage of the heat wave to sit under the air conditioner and stitch hearts. I'm really happy with how green these are--probably 95% is from recycled materials. The bits are mainly old clothes and linens that I hand dyed. Designer samples form the base, and even the batting came from Goodwill. The first 2 are larger 12" hearts, and the second 2 are 5".

Orion Nebula

"Orion Nebula" is one of the 8" X 8" pieces that I produced for the Nature Gathered challenge.
It combines acrylic paint and gold ink handwriting. About the time I was doing this painting I was
listening to an old series of taped lectures by Stephen Hawking, so I added quotations and ideas from
the tapes to the painting. It reflects my fascination with space. I hope you can come to the 6th Street Gallery in Vancouver during August to see all of the art that the Nature Gathered group produced.

Pod Series #3

I've been enjoying the quiet days of summer and feeling very creative lately. I'm busily stitching, drawing and painting. For now, here is another in the pod series I've been working on. This is acrylic on 30"x40" canvas.

Little Art Quilt

Little Art Quilt 18"x 19"
I took a photo of a Cedar Waxwing at McMenamins Edgefield a couple of weeks ago and then put it in Photoshop where I really played with it, I printed it on some canvas I had prepared and made this little quilt. I have been taking photos with a new camera and trying to teach myself Photoshop, this is the first step. To see more detail click here to visit my blog.

Banners for our Studios

Yesterday, PAC member exchanged banners made of fabric, paper and plastic- all different styles that reflect each artist's personality and artistic voice. Artist names are located below their banners.

Tory Brokenshire

Z'anne Bakke

Tammy Vail

Suzie Wolfer

Suzanne Reynolds

Robin Olsen

Maggie Kolkena

Lorraine Jones

Lenall Siebenaler

Jill Lawrence

Jennifer Campbell

Jan Harris

Fran Boston

Debi Koenig

Cynthia Mooney

Paula McNamee

Puerta 6-28-09

Doors have a certain mystery. We pass by this intriguing puerta each day. Then one day the rising sun illuminated it with rosy morning light and made the colors glow from inside. It seemed like an invitation to another world . . . a gateway. Though you can't see it, there is another set of stairs behind the wrought iron, that curved up and around nearly 2 stories. I wonder who lives there.

Suzie
Sayulita Mexico

Hibiscus at 11 am 6-27-09

Everything starts looking like a painting. . . This hibiscus glowed in bright 11 am sunlight while the background was in dark shade. Amazing. The leaves looked translucent green. Many things in Mexico have this glow: doorways, birds catch the light, even palms in the sunset radiate back light in this latitude.

Technique: Instead of using out of the tube greens, I mixed pthalow blue and burnt sienna, with a little indian yellow for high lights. I tried using both cool and warm reds, but it didn't quite catch the color that glowed in the sun. Masking fluid preserved the white space with the yellow area. I cheated on the whites using a little gouache.

Huachinango (Red Snapper)

People are easier than Petroglyphs. This comes as a surprise. Or maybe I'm just loosening up. I notice the drawings are coming a little faster and easier. Painting those shadows makes a difference, and seeing them is the challenge. . . maybe there's a message in this.

Suzie
Sayulita Mexico

Petroglyph at Altavista Mexico

Petroglyphs. We walked through mango and guanabana groves to what feels like a very sacred spot in the jungle. Walking along the creek that looked untouched by modern civilization, petroglyphs peaked out behind moss, palms, with birds calling in the tree tops. This site dates back to the time of Christ and the legends say that Jesus' apostle Matthew (Mateo) came as far as Mexico spreading the word.

This painting started out as water color and it was clear my skills weren't equal to the task. So I pulled out the acrylics, which are much easier to work with. I used molding paste to get the texture of the sandstone and lichen. A light wash of green, red and ocher gave it the purpulish color. Then I splattered on some diluted greens to get the lichens. . . . Most paintings look better in person, this one looks better on the internet!

I loved this petroglyph because the rock was cleaved in two, just right of the concentric rings. . . nice contrast.

Suzie Wolfer
Sayulita Mexico